News

Titanfall's multiplayer focus makes it a tough sell, says Respawn

You'd be forgiven for thinking that the launch of a new online shooter from the creative minds behind Call of Duty: Modern Warfare would be a doddle, but according to developer Respawn the multiplayer focus of mech blaster Titanfall has made it harder to explain what the game is about.

"It's actually been really tough trying to accurately market Titanfall," said producer Drew McCoy in a post on NeoGAF. "If you look at what we've done, it's a lot different than what most FPS games do. Without a bunch of highly scripted SP moments to recam from different angles, the usual 'movie like' trailer is just about right out."

So rather than basing the marketing around glossy blockbuster cinematics, the studio has been forced to use chunks of live unedited gameplay to show players just what the game entails - from controlling mechs to navigating the maps on foot using parkour. McCoy explains: "Starting as a Pilot, taking on AI and other player Pilots, wall running around a Titan, earning your Titan, climbing in, battling other Titans while stomping on humans, ejecting, etc. There's a huge amount of gameplay mechanics available at any one time, and encompassing them in a few minutes is actually quite hard to do."